thumbs up: medium skin tone
Unicode: 1F44D 1F3FD
Description
A hand with its thumb extended upwards, representing approval, agreement, or a positive signal, with a medium skin tone.
Group:
People & Body > hand-fingers-closed
Status:
fully-qualified
Emotion:
Typically represents approval, agreement, encouragement, or a positive response. It conveys that something is good, satisfactory, or 'okay'.
Backstory
The thumbs-up gesture has ancient origins, often associated with Roman gladiatorial contests (though its exact meaning there is debated). It entered modern popular culture as a sign of approval and was digitized as one of the earliest commonly used emojis. The skin tone modifier (1F3FD) was introduced later to allow for greater diversity in emoji representation.
Usage Examples
- Agreeing with someone: 'Sounds good, let's do it! 👍🏽'
- Giving approval: 'Yes, that design works! 👍🏽'
- Acknowledging a message: 'Got it, thanks! 👍🏽'
- Encouraging someone: 'You can do it! 👍🏽'
- Rating something positively: 'Great movie! 👍🏽'
Cultural Differences
Western culture:
Widely understood as a sign of approval, 'good job', or 'okay'. Used frequently in digital communication to affirm or agree.
Middle East (parts of):
Can be considered offensive in some countries, particularly in parts of Iran and the Middle East, where it is equivalent to an insult.
West Africa:
In some West African cultures, it can be interpreted as a disrespectful or rude gesture.
Southeast Asia:
Generally understood as a positive sign of approval or agreement.